Hello there,
Apologies for the break in interview articles. I was "recommended" to stop releasing them as fast because, as you may have seen last week, I was releasing them quite speedily.

Who is Kain Propan?
Anyway, this article will focus on an interview with Kain Propan, a citizen of Sweden and someone who is heavily involved in Asgard. Prior to moving to his real life homeland in-game, Sweden, he was an eUK citizen and a member of UK Reform Party. He became a UK congressman three times and, coincidentally, all of the times he was elected was during my PP terms. He is serving as a member of Nationalgardet right, a centre-right party in Sweden

Who are eSweden?
Prior to the formation of New World Order (NWO; later became ONE), Sweden and the UK were enemies. Sweden was in EDEN and the UK was in Phoenix, both alliances opposing each other. Sweden left EDEN soon after Poland and Spain did and was one of the first countries to join ONE as a non-founding member. The UK and Sweden gradually became closer as our foreign policy switched from being formally non-aligned (or pro-Terra) to being pro-ONE. Sweden and the UK did a joint venture into Canada in late 2011. The UK later joined ONE in December 2011, improving relations between all ONE members and the UK. For the entirety of the UK's occupation in early 2012, Sweden offered to help us out while Valnad was CP after organising a meeting.

Currently, relations are neutral after the formation of Asgard as Sweden are attacking our old allies in ABC. Poland is currently attacking Sweden as well.

What is Asgard?
Asgard is a Nordic alliance, currently composed of Sweden and Finland. Norway is apparently welcome to join in the alliance as well. In a sense, it's a formalisation of relations between the two nations. The alliance's main opponent is the Alliance of Baltic Nations, an alliance founded for similar reasons as Asgard was.

An official image of Asgard

The interview...

How is Sweden these days?
Sweden is doing a lot better than she would have I believe. War activates the population. Unlike the UK we have a, for the time being, pretty stable internal political scene so in a way it is too stable to be good but still preferable to the chaos that we see in the UK.

Do you think Sweden going against ABC was a good idea inevitably or do you wish it could be handled a bit a better? (by getting exONE on your side)
Well of course we wanted exONE on our side but at the same time we had an obligation to our ally Finland. We, as a neutral alliance, had a war with ABC and Sweden had to do our part. It had and still has nothing to do with EDEN and ONE. Sweden tried to ask our allies in ONE to stay neutral since it was purely a regional affair but not that many bothered to listen. UK however did and we are very appreciative of that. More than you know. ABC tries to pull the EDEN card on us and sadly it has worked in their favour. We've as a result of these things been excluded from the exONE sphere which has really made it hard for Sweden to remain communications with many exONE countries.

With the whole situation going on, who would you say are your best allies?
That is rather easy to answer. Finland is our best ally seeing as we are fighting for each other day by day. Sweden fights with joy for Finland since they are not just our allies in eRep but they also share a deep history IRL with Sweden which makes it all so much more powerful and fun.

Do you think the UK and Sweden will exchange MPPs in the future?
I sure hope so. Sweden considers UK one of her closest allies though the view on this might have changed some due to the war with ABC. Not because Sweden suddenly changed stance on the UK-SWE relation but more because some reps of the UK have expressed support of ABC instead of staying neutral. That of course puts strains on relations. But I still have faith in the UK-Sweden relation. Sweden is not expecting UK to pick sides since we understand that it would be unfair to ask such a thing. We just hope you will remain neutral in all of this.

What do you think of Poland?
Personally I felt that I had really good relations with Poland. I felt that Sweden, despite what had happened previously, had great relations. It felt like we had started something "new" after the small “crisis” that was half a year ago or so. That's not really how it feels today though. The truth to it all was that we had relations to certain players in Poland, which eventually completely shifted on us. Why? Well I can't answer that really, only they can. The only thing I really know now is that Poland has no problem in fighting against either Sweden or Asgard and that is completely their choice just as we chose to back up Finland. It is quite sad though if you look at the history. Spain, Poland and Sweden had stuck together for a very long time. Sure Sweden isn't the superpower she once was but that shouldn't matter one would think, she is still the same country more or less.

Do you agree with Sweden signing MPPs with EDEN or exTerra nations?
Well of course I agree. Where would Sweden be without those MPPs? ONE refused to sign MPPs with Sweden and many decided not to stay neutral in this regional conflict. UK decided to stay neutral but still keep the MPPs with ABC. Who were we to sign MPPs with? It is, if you look at the facts, quite a stupid question. It is almost like asking, "Do you want to be wiped or not?". You'll get the same answer every time. It is not like Sweden decided to completely leave ONE and sign loads of EDEN MPPs. There is a reason why Sweden hasn't signed MPPs with key EDEN nations. We still consider ourselves friends with many of the ONE countries even though that feeling doesn't always seem to be mutual anymore. That may sound stupid, and in some ways it probably is, but then again we’ve fought on the same time for a long time with many of the nations that now fight against us. We still hope that they will someday change their stance on the war and understand that this isn't anything other than a regional war to try and create some activity in primarily the North but also the Baltic.

Seeing as I know you were a former UK citizen, how do you view the UK these days?
I try to follow the UK as best as I can. I know there are internal disputes between "the old guard" and the new one. From an outsiders point of view it looks as if the old guard are trying to secure the UK, meaning that they want to make sure she survives another day. The new guard however seems to be swarmed with people who think this is some kind of "elite" issue. Sure I was myself a bit chocked by the fact that Parliament members are kick banned in the eUK channel on IRC because they don't happen to be BFF with the OP there. But that is the eUK way and if I’m not mistaken it was the same when I lived in the eUK. These guys know what they are doing. So to all the new players thinking these "elite scum" just want to secure power, that is completely wrong.

One becomes an "elite" when one is active and work one’s own ass off for the country. Elite essentially means a person working actively for the country and thus want it to prosper. It's not for fun that people spend a shitload of time on maintaining a country. It is because they care about it and don't want it to fall in ruin. We have the same discussions in eSweden now and then. When I moved to eSweden I was a nobody but I worked hard for the country and was essentially "rewarded” for it by being allowed to represent the country is various departments. That is how one succeeds. It's not by joining some party wanting to ”overthrow the elite" etc. It is all done by hard work. And it is all done on IRC and the official forums. No question about it. eRep wouldn’t be half the game(still a shitty game) it actually is without the forums and IRC. I would never have continued playing it without the community outside of .com.

Are there any citizens of eRep that you would look up and admire?
There are a few.

Thatcher is probably the first player I really found a deep respect for. He never wrote anything unless it was of value and he didn’t seem to mind talking about alliances/politics with the newb that I was at the time. Though I don't agree with his whole "omg TEDEN" stance I still respect his belief in it. He hasn’t strayed from it once as far as I know. And that is as loyal as one can become. Sadly that seems to be quite a rare trait in eRep.

Another one is Michael Crookes aka Michel Crogs He taught me the ropes in eRep and helped me find and become a part of the eRep community. He was the kind of guy every one respected, even his political opponents. Sadly he left eRep some time ago.

I can list a whole bunch of names here really but that would fill an entire article. So this is what you get

What do you recall being the best moment on eRepublik for you?
Tough question. If I look at it on a personal level it was probably the first time I was elected for parliament. I was rather "new” and thought of it as a really great achievement when it in fact wasn’t me people voted but for the party. Still I was really happy about it. To note is that I had the previous month been just a few hours from being elected but that it failed due to the Irish taking the region before the vote count was done.

If I look at something bigger than this it would probably be the creations of Asgard. It had been something that my current party Nationalgardet(The National Guard) had worked for for a long time. There were a lot of maybes etc but we finally made it happen and I don’t regret it one second.

Favourite alliance you've witnessed?
Well I'd say Asgard obviously since it is an alliance between two countries that really share a true bond. Not only in eRep but in real life. That always gives an extra touch to it. I am sure there have been plenty of great alliances throughout the years but I am, if looking at an eRep perspective, quite young so I haven't experienced that many alliances.

Favourite eRepublik nation except Sweden?
UK of course. UK and Sweden are the only countries I would ever consider living in. We see many people moving to "other countries" for the lulz. I will never understand that tbh.

Favourite UK place in real life?
The Highlands.

Favourite alcohol?
Jägermeister, though it has put me in some trouble throughout the years. I mostly drink beer mixed with some Jäger shots.

Favourite colour?
Black.

Hottest woman?
Monica Bellucci.

Favourite cheesecake flavour?
I'm not that big of a fan when it comes to cheesecake so I'd say none. Sorry to all you cheesecake lovers out there

Anything else to add?
Thanks for the interview. I hope the eUK finds a way to become more attractive to new players. May it be through war or whatever. Doesn’t really matter as long as we get a strong BB and give the new players a reason to actually keep playing. An MPP-battle in "farawayland" isn’t that attractive to most I'd say. At least not to the newborn ones.

You are reading an article written by a citizen of eRepublik, an immersive multiplayer strategy game based on real life countries. Create your own character and help your country achieve its glory while establishing yourself as a war hero, renowned publisher or finance guru.